Tag Archives: Ole Miss

09 May

one crazy day

Why do we love this game? Crazy days like Saturday. Where to begin? In Hattiesburg, Walker Powell throws a no-hitter and Ben Ethridge follows with a three-hit shutout as Southern Miss sweeps Middle Tennessee State. In Columbia, S.C., Tanner Allen goes 4-for-5 with three RBIs to spark Mississippi State past South Carolina and clinch the big SEC series. In College Station, Texas, Tim Elko, in his third plate appearance since tearing an ACL in early April, hits a three-run homer to help Ole Miss beat Texas A&M and secure Mike Bianco’s 800th win in Oxford. In Jackson, Jackson State scores 19 runs in the third inning en route to beating hapless Mississippi Valley State 19-5, improving to 23-0 in SWAC play. In Oxford, Ala., Blayke Dendy hits a grand slam and Christian Day throws a complete game to pace Delta State to an upset of top-seeded Lee University in the GSC Tournament. In Mobile, Ala., Jorge Ramos tosses a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts to lead William Carey past top-seeded Loyola (New Orleans) and into the championship game of the SSAC Tournament. In Pearl, Atlanta prospect Shea Langeliers homers twice as the Double-A Mississippi Braves win their first game of the season by knocking off Pensacola. In Atlanta, former M-Braves star William Contreras belts a game-tying three-run double and then scores the winning run in the 12th inning as the Braves rally past Philadelphia. In Miami, former Biloxi Shuckers standout Adrian Houser goes six strong innings and hits a homer to drive Milwaukee past the Marlins. In Kansas City, East Central Community College product Tim Anderson singles twice and scores twice in an eight-run first inning that propels the Chicago White Sox past the Royals. Can’t wait to see what today brings.

06 May

put it on the board

The key for Matt Wallner, as it is for many power-hitting prospects, is making enough contact for the power to play. The former Southern Miss standout made contact in three of his four at-bats on Wednesday night for High-A Cedar Rapids – and the results were very good. Wallner, Minnesota’s No. 13-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, went 3-for-4 with two home runs and a career-best six RBIs. He has 10 homers – and 82 strikeouts — over his 67-game pro career. The 6-foot-5, left-handed-hitting outfielder tied the USM single-season record for homers in 2019 with 23 and finished his three years in Hattiesburg with a school-record 58. … It was a big night for big flies among Mississippians in the minors. Mississippi State alum Brent Rooker, back in Triple-A for Minnesota, hit one out for St. Paul. The Twins’ No. 12 prospect is 3-for-29 with one homer in eight big league games this season. Ex-Ole Miss star Grae Kessinger homered for Double-A Corpus Christi in Houston’s system. Columbia High product Ti’Quan Forbes went deep for Birmingham (Chicago White Sox) in its season-opening win over Biloxi in the Double-A South. He also stole a base and committed an error at third base. And at the White Sox’s Low-A Kannapolis club, former Loyd Star standout James Beard, known more for his speed than his power, hit a grand slam. … Also of note: Ole Miss alum Nick Fortes, in his Double-A debut, had two hits for Pensacola (Miami Marlins) in its 2-1 win against Mississippi in the M-Braves’ home opener. Former Ole Miss standout Anthony Servideo and ex-State star Jordan Westburg made their pro debuts for Low-A Delmarva (Baltimore Orioles) in a doubleheader against Salem. Servideo was 1-for-5 with four walks, Westburg 2-for-8 with an RBI.

05 May

minor matters

Though the Mississippi Braves’ season opener was postponed by rain on Tuesday night, there was a boatload of other games on opening day for minor league baseball and several Mississippians made a splash. Kirk McCarty, the ex-Southern Miss standout, went five innings (two earned runs) to get the win for Triple-A Columbus in the Cleveland system. The left-hander is in his fourth pro season, first in Class AAA. Ole Miss alum Ryan Rolison, a 2018 first-rounder and a top prospect in Colorado’s chain, went five innings (one run) for a win in his Double-A debut with Hartford. Jacob Robson, a fifth-year pro out of State, went 2-for-4 with a home run for Double-A Erie in Detroit’s system. The lefty-hitting outfielder has a .290 career average. Former Pascagoula High star Willie Joe Garry, Jr., homered for Fort Myers, Minnesota’s Low-A club. This is the third pro season for the former ninth-round pick. Ex-State star Justin Foscue and Ole Miss product Tyler Keenan, both 2020 draftees, made their official pro debuts in High-A ball. Both went hitless, Foscue for Hickory in the Texas system, Keenan for Everett in Seattle’s organization. P.S. Jared Johnson, the former Smithville High standout with the big arm, has popped in on Atlanta’s MLB Pipeline prospect list at No. 30. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound right-hander, a 14th-round pick in 2019, reportedly threw 97 mph in Instructional League last fall. He pitched in the rookie Gulf Coast League in 2019 and put up a 3.52 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings. He was almost unhittable at Smithville. Only 20, he is probably a couple of years away from appearing in Mississippi with the Double-A club but is worth keeping an eye on.

05 May

milestone alert

The 100th home run of Hunter Renfroe’s big league career sailed into the seats above the Green Monster on Tuesday night. It was his first homer at Fenway Park as a member of the Boston Red Sox, who signed the former Mississippi State star primarily to add some power to their lineup. After a sluggish start, Renfroe may be beginning to produce the desired thunder. He has homered twice in his last three games and, after a 3-for-4 effort in Tuesday’s win against Detroit, is batting .333 over his last seven games. “Just changing a little timing, making sure it’s a little better, that’s really what I’ve been working on in the cage a little bit and just staying with my approach,” the Crystal Springs native said in an mlb.com story. He is at .222 for the year with three bombs and 13 RBIs. … Ex-Bulldogs standout Mitch Moreland hit a two-run homer for Oakland in a win over Toronto on Tuesday, giving him 601 RBIs for his 12-year career. It was his 180th career homer. Moreland, who left Boston as a free agent and signed with the A’s in the off-season, is hitting .225 with four homers and 13 RBIs. … George County High product Justin Steele, a rookie with the Chicago Cubs, notched his first career MLB win Tuesday after pitching a scoreless ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cubs won Game 2 of the twinbill on David Bote’s walk-off hit. Steele, who won 16 games as an oft-injured starter in the minors going back to 2014, has posted a 3.68 ERA in six appearances this season with 12 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. P.S. Ole Miss alum Mike Mayers has been put on the 10-day injured list (undisclosed) by the Los Angeles Angels. The reliever has a 2.51 ERA in 14 games.

03 May

numbers of note

540 – Strikeouts by Mississippi State’s pitching staff this season, most in the nation. The Bulldogs (32-10) punched out 37 in their three-game sweep of Texas A&M over the weekend.
31 – Wins by Ole Miss this season, marking the 23rd straight year (excluding the shortened 2020 season) that the Rebels have posted at least 30 wins. They swept South Carolina over the weekend.
30 – Runs scored by Southern Miss in taking the last three games of a four-game set at Rice. The Golden Eagles improved to 29-14 and 16-7 in C-USA, second in the West.
21 – Wins, against no defeats, for Jackson State in SWAC play this season. The Tigers have one series left, at home against winless Mississippi Valley State next weekend.
20 – Wins, against 16 losses, this season for Belhaven heading into this week’s ASC Tournament in Marshall, Texas. Ace Brett Sanchez has nine of those wins and just one loss.
20 – Wins, against eight losses, for MUW, which is ranked No. 2 in the USCAA poll and awaiting word of an invite to the postseason.
9 – Current losing streak for Alcorn State, which finished the regular season at 6-18, 6-16 SWAC.
9 – Straight wins for William Carey, which will take a 30-10 record into the SSAC Tournament in Mobile, Ala., this week. The Crusaders are the fifth seed and play 4-seed Mobile on Wednesday.
7 – Blue Mountain’s seed in the SSAC Tournament; the Toppers (14-18) get 2-seed Faulkner in the first round on Wednesday.
5 – Delta State’s seed in this week’s GSC Tournament in Oxford, Ala. The Statesmen (24-15) took two of three from Mississippi College over the weekend. MC didn’t make the tourney field.

02 May

three for the show

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Oh, and sometimes you get a no-decision. That tells the tale of the three Mississippi products who started major league games on Saturday. Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn got the W, ex-Madison Central star Spencer Turnbull took the L and former Mississippi State standout Brandon Woodruff didn’t factor in the decision of a game his team ultimately won. Turnbull was first up in a game featured on MLB Network. Facing the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, he gave up four runs in five innings as Detroit fell 6-4. The lanky right-hander is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA in three starts for a struggling Tigers team. Lynn returned from the injured list to work five innings, allowing three runs, for the Chicago White Sox in a 7-3 win against visiting Cleveland in FS1’s national game. Buoyed by East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson’s grand slam, Lynn improved to 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA. Woodruff took on the Los Angeles Dodgers in an MLB Network showcase game and allowed two runs — including Mookie Betts’ first-pitch leadoff homer — in six innings. It was 2-2 when Woodruff departed, and Milwaukee won the game 6-5 in 11 innings. He stands at 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA. He has allowed more than two runs just once in his six starts. P.S. There has been a flurry of movement recently involving Mississippians in MLB. In addition to Lynn leaving the IL, Nick Sandlin was called up by Cleveland (see previous post); Cody Reed came off the IL for Tampa Bay; Justin Steele was recalled by the Cubs; Brent Rooker was sent out by Minnesota; Garrett Crochet went on the IL for the White Sox; and Anthony Alford was assigned to the minors by Pittsburgh.

30 Apr

a good fit

Some consider moving from starter to reliever a demotion of sorts. Former Mississippi State star Kendall Graveman has made the switch with the Seattle Mariners and couldn’t be happier about it. “It’s been fun,” he recently told the Seattle Times. “The adrenaline’s a lot different. It’s a different ballgame coming out of the bullpen and I really don’t (miss starting). Mentality-wise, I really think I fit down there.” Numbers-wise, it also looks like a good fit. The 30-year-old right-hander picked up his third save – of both the season and his eight-year MLB career – by pitching the ninth inning Thursday to close out a 1-0 victory over Houston. The Astros were no-hit for 6 1/3 by Yusei Kikuchi. Graveman has been called on nine times by the Mariners and has yet to allow a run over 10 2/3 innings. He has yielded just two hits and two walks while fanning 12. He was 24-31 as a starter with an ERA well above 4.00 from 2015-2020. Graveman missed time last season, his first in Seattle, because of a benign bone tumor in his neck. He moved to the bullpen when he returned and has nailed down a leading role there in 2021. “He’s going out there and pumping 99 mile per hour sinkers, power sinkers,” M’s starter Justus Sheffield told the Seattle Times. “It’s a beautiful thing to watch.” … The Mariners (14-12) host the Los Angeles Angels (12-11) – Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Albert Pujols, et al. – this weekend. The Angels also have a Mississippi college product who’s thriving in a bullpen role: ex-Ole Miss star Mike Mayers. Mayers, a middling reliever in St. Louis most of his big league career, has blossomed with the Angels the past two seasons. He is 1-1 with a save and a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings this season. Ten of his 12 appearances have been scoreless.

26 Apr

a few atta boys

Brandon Woodruff, the former Mississippi State standout from Wheeler, threw six shutout innings to beat the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sunday. The Milwaukee ace is 2-0 with a 1.55 ERA and has yet to allow a home run in 29 innings this season.
Pearl River Community College wrapped up the junior college state championship with a sweep of Northeast on Sunday. Gulfport’s Tate Parker hit two homers, a grand slam and then a seventh-inning game-clincher, Nos. 14 and 15 on the year, in a 13-5 win in Game 1 at Poplarville. The third-ranked Wildcats are 33-7 and 23-5 MACCC.
Decatur’s Kemp Alderman, a freshman, blasted a walk-off bomb for Ole Miss on Saturday as the Rebels salvaged the third game of their SEC series against LSU.
Collinsville’s Ben Ethridge threw a three-hit, 11-strikeout shutout at Western Kentucky on Saturday, helping Southern Miss take three of four in the C-USA series.
Lucedale’s Logan Tanner hit a two-run homer off Jack Leiter on Saturday as Mississippi State handed the Vanderbilt ace — and potential No. 1 MLB draft pick — his first loss of the season. Rowdey Jordan’s leadoff blast got the Bulldogs rolling.
Brandon High took down previously undefeated Madison Central 7-6 on Friday. The Jaguars, No. 3 in the latest MaxPreps national poll, are now 24-1. The Bulldogs are 20-7.
Three former Mississippi Braves pitchers notched wins as MLB starters on Friday: Huascar Ynoa for Atlanta, Mike Minor for Kansas City and Alex Wood for San Francisco. A fourth, John Gant, got a W for St. Louis on Saturday.

22 Apr

feeling a draft

Ole Miss right-hander Gunnar Hoglund is the top-rated draft prospect in the state, per MLB Pipeline’s new Top 150 announced Wednesday. Hoglund, 3-2 with a 2.73 ERA, is No. 10. He pitched well but took the loss in the Rebels’ 5-2 defeat against Mississippi State in Starkville last Friday. Hoglund was opposed as the starter by Bulldogs left-hander Christian MacLeod (3-2, 2.83), MLB Pipeline’s No. 66 prospect who also pitched well but got no decision. UM lefty Doug Nikhazy (4-1, 1.86), who threw the brilliant one-hitter at State on Saturday, is No. 100 in the new draft list. Will Bednar (2-1, 3.55), who took the loss for the Bulldogs in that game, is No. 34 on the list. (That’s the kind of power-packed series it was last weekend.) The only other Mississippi product on the list is Madison Central High senior Braden Montgomery, who sits at No. 54. The switch-hitting outfielder (.469, three homers) and righty pitcher (6-0, 0.22) is committed to Stanford. The draft is in July. The ratings will change before then. “This is a really tough draft,” a scout said in the mlb.com story. “It’s a year of challenges (due to COVID-19 restrictions) with mixed opinions on a lot of guys.”

22 Apr

you’re up one day …

A snapshot into the mercurial life of a major league relief pitcher: On Tuesday in Anaheim, former Ole Miss pitcher Mike Mayers was summoned from the Los Angeles Angels’ bullpen in the seventh inning with one out and a Texas runner at third. In his first game in a week, he struck out the first batter, but the second, Joey Gallo, a lefty slugger facing a shift, laid down a squeeze bunt up the third-base line for a hit. The runner scored, cutting the Angels’ lead to 3-2. After he struck out ex-Mississippi State standout Nate Lowe to end the inning, Mayers barked at Gallo, apparently miffed about the bunt. Mayers worked a 1-2-3 eighth, trimming his ERA to 0.93, and the Angels won the game 6-2. On Wednesday, Mayers was summoned in the eighth with one out, a runner on first and the Angels again up 3-1. Gallo was the first batter. He walked on a 3-2 pitch. The next batter, Adolis Garcia, hit a three-run bomb. Lowe followed with another homer. Mayers trudged off, his ERA suddenly swollen to 3.72, and the Angels lost the game 7-4. Mayers has had a good year to date. He has a win, two holds and a save. He had allowed only one homer in his first eight appearances. Then came Wednesday. His next appearance will be interesting to watch.